Rain in Ukraine

Ukraine is a beautiful place, but emergency services lack. In the western part of Ukraine, they have had a lot of rain this summer. More than in other years. As a result, there has been a lot of flooding. Some have reported that deforestation in Ukraine is to be blamed. Seams to me when you get way too much rain, it always brings flooding and such, but if the forests are being stripped, that will for sure cause a lot of earth movement. Looking at images on the news, the amount of soil that has flooded into so many homes is astonishing. Not only do you need to get the water out, but you could have 2-3 feet or 60 – 90 centimeters of dirt to clear out.

The communities that have flooded have been established a long time, that said, it is common in Canada and Ukraine that as a town gets built up and the flood zones are mapped, and no building permits are issued for those areas. But as a nice town gets built, open areas are more and more sought after, and soon enough, someone turns an eye and permits building in those zones. "A flood has not happened for a long time; it will be ok." So with a bit of a bribe or a promised favor, the permits are given, and it is done. Then the long-delayed flood comes, and everyone says what happened here? Insurance companies are in shock as they put trust in the government systems in place, and they see that the system in place has failed them. If they know the details of the years-long land deals, they would not have offered insurance in the first place. But they were in the dark. Also, the buyers - people who bought land in the area; no one told them that it was low land. It's not like you can see it. In Ukraine, unlike in Canada, most homeowners would not have insurance.

So in the corruption that takes place in Ukraine due to people pocketing money deforestation has taken place in this area. With no rules and mass deforestation, you will have huge land movement issues when heavy rains come. Illegal cutting of trees is something that takes place almost everywhere, even Canada. And they may catch the wrongdoers over time. In Ukraine, the corruption is often at the top of the local governing level, so it looks real, it seems normal, and no one thinks the works going on is abnormal. Yet all the profit goes into the pockets of the wrong people. I saw a government building where the Government worker used government money to make it look nice and proper and then rented those spaces out and put all the cash in the pocket.

Again the rain comes, and the emergency services are called. These workers have the training provided and good hearts. What I see is they lack good tools and reliable equipment. I have seen far too many 1960-1980 emergency response vehicles, Ambulances, Firetrucks, and more. So without being rude, I would need to say the training the first responders have is lacking as you need modern equipment to practice and get training on. I have seen 1960 man lifts, and this is a truck with a telescoping boom to raise a man up hight 30-100 feet or 32 meters. In Canada, these machines need to pass strict testing every year as if it fails at least one person dies.

Once again, the lack of maintenance leaves many things unstable, Emergency response vehicles, roads, bridges, water, and electrical utilities. If proper maintenance is done, with scheduled inspections, things are caught, and preventative is carried out. At this time in Ukraine, the simplest things are caught up in people pocketing the money, that is, a government branch gets funds from the capital, and they spend it differently as it was planned. Or they earn revenue through Government assets, and the cash goes into the pockets of those involved. In Canada, there is a lot less of this going one. Canada supports the "whistleblowing" services of fellow workers.